The UK and Ireland SAP User Group (UKISUG) Connect is the largest yearly event that gathers SAP experts, partners, professionals, and users from the United Kingdom and Ireland. This year’s event was held in Birmingham. The three-day event provides opportunities for collaborating, learning, and collaborating.
ComputerWeekly.com reported that on the opening day of the recent UKISUG 2019, a member research was conducted, which showed that out of 467 user organisations, only 6% knew that Qualtrics was acquired by SAP in 2018. Meanwhile, 43% of the participants were unaware of the acquisition despite the announcement made during the conference last year.
Additionally, the research also showed that 9% of the members think that SAP is becoming less significant as a business partner. Out of the 70% of existing and potential users of SAP S/4 HANA, only 10% are using it or considered active user organisations. And out of the 10%, 44% rated the S/4 migration process as good, while only 10% rated it as excellent.
During his keynote speech, the chairman of UKISUG, Paul Cooper, noted the departure of former SAP CEO Bill McDermott in a positive way. He also welcomed the appointment of Christian Klein and Jennifer Morgan, stating that this marks the return of the co-CEO model.
In his statement, Cooper mentioned that the new CEOs would need to prioritise customer relationships. He also pointed out the fragile state of the customers’ confidence and trust. He also talked about other topics such as the end of life of ECC6, indirect licencing, and lack of clarity on the roadmap of S/4 HANA.
He also talked about the need for clear communication from SAP while also pointing out that SAP has given details on the Digital Access Adoption Programme; however, the documents provided minimal information.
He has also voiced out concerns regarding the problems migrating from ECC6 to S/4 HANA and the possibility of a decline in quality if all customers make the shift at the same time with the limited number of partners who can help with the process.
Regarding Qualtrics, Cooper said that SAP needs to communicate with its customers better. He said:
“As customers, we need to know how Qualtrics fits into the SAP portfolio. We need to know what the integration plans are and what the benefits of the acquisition are for us as customers.”
Jens Amail, SAP UK and Ireland managing director, praised the British SAP customer innovation for their works in the past year. He cited Barclaycard. BT, Dixons, and Dyson as examples.
BT recently decided to work with SAP S/4 HANA Finance, which is supported by the SAP Cloud Platform and the SAP Analytics Cloud. The SAP S/4 HANA Finance will utilise the financial capabilities of SAP and provide a platform to support future innovation. Go lives are expected to happen in 2020 onwards.
Additionally, BT will also migrate to other SAP cloud applications such as SAP Ariba, SAP Concur, SAP Fiori UX, and Opentext invoice management. They have also chosen SAP SuccessFactors and SAP Fieldglass to help transform talent acquisition, employees’ learning, and development.
Amail also shared in his statement:
“We have an unrivaled track record here, with eight out of the top 10 global communications companies running SAP Finance and Supply Chain solutions. Our proven transformation roadmap will help ensure BT Group realises these benefits early and becomes an Intelligent Enterprise.”
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